Legal Business

Asia Round-up: Linklaters and Sidley Austin hire in Hong Kong and Singapore while DLA suffers another Singapore exit

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Magic circle lateral hires still happen comparatively infrequently but if they do happen, these days it’s quite often in Asia. The past week has seen Linklaters appoint David Kidd of his own eponymous firm as a partner to lead its pan-Asian restructuring and insolvency practice. He will join the firm in October and be based in Hong Kong. Linklaters has been involved in high profile insolvencies such as MF Global and Lehman Brothers and Stuart Salt, Linklaters regional managing partner for Asia, said: ‘David is one of the leading R&I lawyers in the region and we are excited about further developing this side of our business with him.’

In Singapore Sidley Austin continues its drive to forge a substantial funds practice as former colleagues of Han Ming Ho, co-head of the firm’s Asia investment funds practice, come across to the US firm from Clifford Chance. Ho is joined by Josephine Law, who will serve as counsel, senior associate, Joel Seow and associate Reina Chua, significantly boosting the firms fund capabilities.

‘Han Ming and his team are joining Sidley at an exciting time, as the interplay between the Singapore and Hong Kong markets continues to shape the funds industry in this region,’ said Thomas Albrecht, managing partner for Asia Pacific.

Elsewhere Duane Morris & Selvam has also expanded its Asian operations by opening an office in Myanmar, following Singapore heavyweight Rajah & Tann, which opened there in March. The firm will serve clients on a range of business and investment matters including tax, regulatory issues, reporting requirements and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as well as UK Bribery Act issues. This marks the first launch in the country by a US law firm, albeit through its tie up with Singapore’s Selvam in 2010.

‘Myanmar presents significant opportunities for foreign businesses, and our new presence there will allow us to provide on the ground, high quality counsel to foreign and domestic businesses seeking to seize those opportunities while minimizing the inherent risks,’ said Duane Morris chairman and chief executive, John Soroko.

The office will be run by Duane Morris’ current managing director in Singapore, Krishna Ramachandra. Benjamin Kheng, an associate director of Duane Morris in Singapore, will be a partner in Myanmar. In total the office will have ten fee earners.

‘Our team has built a strong relationship with Myanmar and its government, as a result of working closely with the Attorney General’s office for many years. This is a natural next step for us,’ said Ramachandra.

However, DLA Piper’s Asia fall out continues, as Will Harrison, head of the firm’s insurance practice in Hong Kong, moves into legal consulting. Having joined from Clifford Chance as a senior associate in 2007, he built a strong practice focusing on financial lines and speciality insurance, including directors and officers liability, professional indemnity and acting as defence counsel for insurers and insured. One of the most high profile cases he worked on was the collapse of Barings Bank and the resulting audit negligence litigation in London.

DLA has suffered a number of senior partner departures in the region, including Matthew Glynn, former managing partner of the firm’s Singapore office and head of its Asia intellectual property and technology group, who gave in his notice earlier this month. This followed on from the departure of another former Singapore managing partner, Martin David, who left for Ince & Co just a few months previously, and Justin Jagger, former co-chair of the firm’s global arbitration group and leader of its South East Asia disputes, who left for local Singapore firm Stamford Law last August.

david.stevenson@legalese.co.uk

Legal Business

Deal watch: Hogan Lovells, RPC in key work for Kodak and AstraZeneca as DLA Piper reveals major High Court win

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This week has seen two of the larger global challenger firms reveal significant wins on behalf of major international clients. Hogan Lovells closed a $650m acquisition for the trustees of the Kodak Pension Plan and DLA Piper secured victory for China Southern Airlines in the High Court. Meanwhile, one of the top performers in this year’s LB100, RPC, is advising AstraZeneca on its move to a new purpose-built HQ in Cambridge.

Hogan Lovells is a longstanding advisor to the trustees of the Kodak Pension Plan (KPP) – Kodak’s largest creditor. Led by pensions partner Katie Banks, the firm worked on a comprehensive settlement of KPP’s claims against Eastman Kodak Company (EKC) and Kodak Limited, its UK subsidiary. This included the acquisition of EKC’s personalised imaging (PI) and document imaging (DI) businesses, valued at US$650m but acquired through a mixture of release of claims and a cash consideration of $325m. The acquisition closed Tuesday (3 September) the day of EKC’s emergence from bankruptcy.

EKC, the guarantor of Kodak Limited’s obligations to KPP, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US in January 2012 which consequently led to the trustees of KPP filing unsecured claims for $2.8bn against EKC last year.

After extensive negotiations, EKC and KPP agreed a settlement, approved by the US bankruptcy court earlier this year, including the acquisition by the KPP of the PI and DI businesses in an elaborate carve-out transaction which involved extracting the relevant assets from over 50 EKC entities worldwide. The ongoing income generated by these businesses will be used to fund member benefits.

Linklaters, led by London-based pensions partner Mark Blyth and a Sullivan & Cromwell team advised Kodak Limited and Eastman Kodak respectively.

Banks, who has advised the KPP trustees since 1994 and has also advised ITV, Vodafone, and Santander in the past, describes the deal as the ‘biggest pension restructuring’ on record.

‘I’m the pension’s lawyer who has had the relationship with the trustees but I had to get help from employment, competition, and IP lawyers around the world,’ she adds.

Banks’ team included New York-based insolvency and restructuring partner Christopher Donoho, commercial partner Elizabeth Donley, and tax partner Karen Hughes.

Meanwhile DLA Piper has announced a significant victory for its client this week after representing China Southern Airlines (CSA) in the High Court earlier this summer. In a judgment handed down at the end of July, CSA was awarded $28m in damages and interest over a breach of contract dispute brought by commodity trader Tigris International.

Tigris made the claim against CSA for $46m in damages in a battle which arose over an aircraft sale agreement between the parties for the purchase of six redundant Airbus A300 aircraft and five spare Pratt & Whitney engines for $124m.

Due to an internal shareholder dispute at Tigris, CSA was only able to deliver one of the six aircraft to Tigris. To mitigate its loss, CSA subsequently sold the remaining five aircraft to other purchasers, including a South African company owned by the financier of Tigris.

CSA counterclaimed for its losses of about $37m arising from Tigris’ failure to pay for and take delivery of the undelivered aircrafts and engines as well as other associated expenses such as parking and maintenance charges.

Fountain Court’s Bankim Thanki QC and David Murray were instructed by DLA’s Hong Kong-based partner Kevin Chan and City-based partner Mark Franklin, while Blackstone Chambers’ Hugo Page QC was instructed by Watling & Co on behalf of Tigris. Heard by Justice Simon, the 10-day trial in London’s Commercial Court ultimately ended in dismissal of the claims against CSA. In addition to the $28m in damages awarded to CSA on its counterclaim, the court ruled that CSA was entitled to forfeit the deposit paid by the claimant in the amount of $10.5m.

Chan said: ‘This case is a significant victory for CSA and we are pleased with the result we achieved for our client. The case involved close collaboration of our colleagues from various countries around the world, including Hong Kong, China, the UK, the Netherlands, the US, as well as DLA Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr in South Africa.’

Finally, RPC has won the mandate to be sole advisor on a project involving pharma giant AstraZeneca on the acquisition, construction and planning related issues for a new global research and development (R&D) centre and corporate headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, which AstraZeneca intends to invest £330m into.

The deal was headed by real estate head Martin Barrett and construction partner Stephen Malley and the team was initially called to advise on the establishment of the new R&D centre in March this year. RPC is a longstanding advisor to AstraZeneca, having previously advised on property and construction issues when the company moved to an office space at 2 Kingdom Street at Paddington Central, as well as a joint venture deal with Bericote Properties for a distribution park at Severnside.

Barrett noted the deal was ‘one of the largest’ in the market at present. ‘This new facility will have state-of-the-art technology and AstraZeneca’s move is further recognition that Cambridge is becoming a pre-eminent location for the life sciences industry,’ he added.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Asia round-up: DLA loses former Singapore head..again.. as Hill Dicks launches in Hong Kong

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With all eyes trained on Asia the office fall outs and launches have been throw into far sharper relief. Losing one former office head could be said to be an accident but DLA Piper’s loss in Singapore of its second former managing partner (MP), Matthew Glynn, is starting to look like trouble, after ex MP Martin David left in May to join Ince & Co. The departure also follows the resignation last August of disputes partner Justyn Jagger for local firm Stamford law.

Glynn, who led the Singapore office for a relatively short period between June 2011 and February this year, was also head of the firm’s Asia intellectual property and technology group.

Incumbent Singapore managing partner John Goulios, who took over from Glynn in February, said: ‘I can confirm the departure of Matt Glynn from our Singapore office – we wish Matt all the best in his new endeavours. DLA Piper is committed to the strategic growth of our Singapore office and with the onset of the economic community in ASEAN in 2015, Singapore and Southeast Asia are of crucial importance to our firm.’

It is the wrong time to be in a weakened position in Singapore, as the Southeast Asian Republic continues to attract the global legal elite. Simmons & Simmons in May opened an office in a year that has also seen Magic Circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer reverse its decision five years ago to shut shop in the jurisdiction. Its Singapore offering includes corporate heavyweight Stephen Revell, who heads the firm’s global capital markets practice and Gavin MacLaren, a lateral hire from Allens Arthur Robinson where he led the Australian firm’s Southeast Asian practice from Singapore for many years.

Elsewhere, Hill Dickinson, already a presence in Singapore, has formally announced that it is to launch in Hong Kong in October. Speaking to Legal Business recently, Jackson said he had no intention of challenging the Magic Circle and will enter the market on a marine platform that seems to have worked well for the firm thus far.

The firm will be launching in Hong Kong in association with a local firm after it received regulatory approval from the Law Society of Hong Kong. Due to a confidentiality agreement the local firm cannot be named until the association is finalised. Hill Dickinson will be relocating a partner from the UK to lead the new venture and head a team of four.

Peter Jackson said: ‘Working with the partners at Hill Dickinson we are making a series of strategic decisions to strengthen the firm’s position both nationally and globally. We submitted an application to the Law Society in Hong Kong in May after identifying a gap in the local market. Our Singapore office has performed extremely well and we believe we can replicate this success in Hong Kong.’

Meanwhile, Vinson & Elkins continues to deal with the fallout of its decision to shut its Shanghai office. China co-head David Blumental is relocating to the firm’s Hong Kong office, while his opposite number, Jay Kolb, will now be based in Beijing.

Earlier this month Vinson & Elkins Shanghai energy specialist Tju Liang Chua left the firm to join US rival Sidley Austin in Singapore.

david.stevenson@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Deal watch: Student Loans Company invites law firm tenders for £40bn debt portfolio sale

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The Government’s plan to take the Student Loans Company debt off its balance sheet has moved up a gear as firms have formally been invited to tender for the role as legal advisor in the sale of the company’s £40bn loan portfolio.

Announced last Friday (26 July), the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) has invited tenders for legal advice on the monetisation of the SLC’s loans portfolio, which at the end of the 2012/13 financial year was valued at approximately £45bn. The precise structure of the monetisation is still being considered but it is likely to be either through a sale to the private sector or a securitisation. Invited firms have until 23 August to submit their bids.

DLA Piper is currently joint advisor to the government-owned SLC, alongside Scottish firm Harper Macleod, after being reappointed as adviser for two years in February this year. Previously DLA was sole adviser to the SLC on a three-year contract after it replaced Harper Macleod in January 2010. At the time, DLA Piper’s bid was led by Edinburgh-based partners John McKinlay and Hazel Moffat. DLA Piper declined to comment on whether it would be bidding for the loan portfolio work.

The successful bidder will be expected to prove experience in complex, cross-government work and possess a strong cross-practice team with top-level abilities in general corporate M&A and securitisation.

The upsurge in privatisation to reduce public debt recently included the planned IPO of state-owned Royal Mail (for a reported value of £3bn), which will be the largest UK privatisation in decades when it takes place later this year. The lead roles for that sale were snared by Magic Circle firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, and Slaughter and May.

Freshfields’ corporate partner Tim Jones is leading the team advising BIS; while Slaughters corporate partner Jeff Triggs is lead partner for Royal Mail, while Linklaters’ co-head of equity John Lane and capital markets partner Tom O’Neill are acting for lead arrangers Goldman Sachs and UBS.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Asia Round-up: Field Fisher launches in Shanghai while Global 100 leaders position themselves in Hong Kong and Dubai

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Field Fisher Waterhouse has joined forces with Ryser & Associates in Shanghai while a show of strength among the Global 100 leaders in Hong Kong over the past week has seen Jones Day, Dentons and DLA Piper bolster their finance and capital markets capability.

Field Fisher announced yesterday (8 July) that it has launched in Shanghai under the brand Field Fisher Ryser. Ryser & Associates was formed in 2004 with a focus on intellectual property and corporate.It services clients from China, Japan, the US and Russia across industries such as food, electronics, automobiles and finance led by managing partner Zoe Zhan.

Commenting on the move Field Fisher’s managing partner Michael Chissick said: ‘A key aspect of the two firms coming together was the opportunity to have a credible base in China built on the IP/IT and corporate focus of both firms. We hope Field Fisher Ryser will continue to grow over the next few years and help our clients realise their ambitions and strategic plans in China whilst also enabling us to better service our growing Chinese client base.’

In Hong Kong meanwhile, Jones Day – in 10th position by revenue in this year’s Global 100 – secured a high profile local hire in the form of Michelle Taylor, former Asia managing partner and China office leader at US rival Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. She has joined the firm’s banking and finance practice.

Taylor has 20 years’ experience of structured finance, real estate finance, debt capital markets and securitisation. Jones Day Hong Kong head Robert Thomson said: ‘Michelle’s in-depth knowledge and market leading experience in structured finance make her a great asset to our clients and significantly enhances our ability to work on the some of the most innovative financial transactions in the region.’

The hire builds on the arrival last year of banking and finance specialist Maria Tan Pedersen, who came from K&L Gates in August.

Jones Day’s Asian presence was given a significant boost in February this year when it was one of four firms to be awarded a qualifying foreign law practice (QFLP) license in Singapore.

Also in Hong Kong, Dentons has bolstered its local capital markets practice with the hire of corporate partner Gordon Ng from O’Melveny & Myers, in what may be interpreted as a vote of confidence in the local IPO market, in which Ng specialises and for which the forecast has so far been cloudy.

This month saw the $284m IPO of leading Hong Kong casino and gaming facilities owner Macau Legend Development, in which Hogan Lovells’ Hong Kong office advised the underwriters.

Meanwhile, DLA Piper brought in Mayer Brown Hong Kong banking and finance partner Benjamin Sandstad. His practice focuses on structured finance, securitisation and debt capital markets transactions. Recent clients include China International Marine Containers (Hong Kong), which he advised on the establishment of a $600 million US commercial paper program.

Charles Morrison, partner and international head of finance & projects at DLA Piper said: ‘We are pleased to welcome such a highly regarded partner to the finance & projects group in Asia, Ben’s appointment is testament to our growing F&P practice and our commitment to the region. The Asia-Pacific market offers a wealth of opportunity for our firm, and it is a real coup for us to have such an energetic and dynamic individual join us.’

Bob Charlton, partner and managing director, Asia Pacific, of DLA Piper added: ‘The Asia region is a key focus for DLA Piper and the hire of Ben is seen as an important step in the plan to strengthen the F&P team there, this will ensure that the firm takes advantage of the available opportunities in the region now and in the future.’

Elsewhere, Morgan Lewis & Bockius announced this week that it plans to open an office in Dubai, bringing in Ayman Khaleq, a structured finance and debt capital markets lawyer in the Middle East region who has a particular knowledge of Islamic finance and Jim Knight, a corporate and transactional lawyer with more than 20 years of experience in energy and other industries.

They are joined by London-based energy transactions partner Lewis Jones, who concentrates his practice on the development and financing of energy and infrastructure projects with a particular focus on emerging markets.

Other recent entrants to the Dubai market include White & Case, which announced it has been granted a licence to practice in the emirateBaker & McKenzie which merged with leading Dubai outfit Habib al Mulla this month and Addleshaw Goddard and Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, which opened in the emirate last September.

david.stevenson@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Global 100: DLA Piper

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A highly symbolic year for DLA Piper, with the rapidly-assembled business services juggernaut becoming the world’s largest law firm in revenue terms with income up 9% to $2.44bn, while profit per equity partner (PEP) was up by 6% to $1.3m.

The 1,300-partner firm – which now has nearly 80 offices worldwide – also made ground in pushing up the value chain, a key aim behind the 2011 appointment of former Linklaters head Tony Angel as global co-chair. Profit per lawyer (PPL) was up 10% annually to around $150,000 as the number of lawyers decreased by 3% to 4,036 firm-wide.

Legal Business

Asia-Pac continues to challenge new entrants as DLA Piper freezes Australia salaries

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The impact of the Australian downturn has once again been thrown into sharp relief after DLA Piper’s staff in the region were told not to expect pay rises and some partners to expect a drop in pay as the office failed to meet its targets.

As first revealed by RollOnFriday, an email from chief operating officer and stand in local managing partner Andrew Darwin told staff ‘for many…there will be no increase in base salary this year and for others there will only be a modest increase.’

Local partners, meanwhile, were told: ‘many partners will have no increases or, in some cases, a reduction in their remuneration.’ Further savings are also expected to be made on expenses.

Darwin in March began a stint as Australian managing partner while the firm looks to re-energise the local practice and ‘groom’ home-grown talent.

The move comes as a number of firms show signs of struggling at the hands of the depressed conditions in Australia and low revenues across the wider Asia-Pacific region, with UK managing partners reporting that it must be viewed as a long term game.

In March, Herbert Smith Freehills blamed market conditions for deferring staff pay reviews in Australia. Moreover, Asia-Pacific accounted for only 13% of the firm’s revenues this year, according to LB Global 100 results, despite the firm having 15 offices across the region, five of which are in Australia.

DLA merged with its Australian alliance firm Phillips Fox in May 2011, having had an exclusive referral relationship since 2006. The merger formed part of DLA’s global strategy to strengthen the firm’s presence in G20 economies.

francesca.fanshawe@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Insurance: Mills & Reeve takes up last of DLA’s defendant insurance team as CMS snares RPC head

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Mills & Reeve and CMS Cameron McKenna boosted their offerings at opposite ends of the insurance spectrum this week, taking staff from the Birmingham office of DLA Piper and the City office of RPC respectively.

Top 50 UK firm Mills & Reeve acquired a nine-strong defendant insurance practice from DLA, marking the conclusion of DLA’s withdrawal from the typically lower margin area of law, as first announced by the top 10 firm last year.

The team, which will start at Mills & Reeve on 1 July and bring its client book, is led by DLA’s former head of the Birmingham insurance group Alan Jacobs, who joins alongside five fee-earners and three support staff.

The sale by DLA comes after its Manchester and Sheffield defendant insurance teams joined Hill Dickinson in late February this year.

Neil Davis (pictured), head of Mills & Reeve insurance sector said: ‘Both we and DLA Piper are convinced this is a positive step for the clients involved, and have worked together to facilitate a smooth transition.

‘Alan’s team have an impressive list of insurance and corporate clients, all of which fit well within our existing strategy for the development of a diversified and corporate focussed insurance offering, across a national footprint. Our strategy is to grow our business in line with our sector commitments, including insurance and corporate services, while maintaining our reputation for outstanding client service. The fact that Alan’s clients have enthusiastically supported this move speaks volumes for the regard in which his team are held.’

The 384-lawyer firm on 1 June also completed its merger with Manchester’s George Davis.

Meanwhile CMS announced yesterday (18 June) that it has recruited RPC’s head of reinsurance and longstanding partner Simon Kilgour to its ranks.

Kilgour advises domestic and overseas insurers and reinsurers on matters including high value and non-standard coverage disputes, and has led numerous high value disputes and arbitrations in London, the US and Bermuda.

CMS managing partner Duncan Weston said Kilgour arrival will add ‘strength and depth to our big-ticket capabilities across CMS.’

Ed Foss, head of the insurance and reinsurance group said: ‘Worldwide, the industry faces a challenging environment characterized by increasingly global competition, regulatory oversight and a rising cost of capital. Now, with CMS’s broad service offering to insurers and reinsurers across disputes and arbitration, transactional, corporate advisory and other key areas, Simon’s experience will be a tremendous asset for this practice and its clients.’

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Comment: Don’t push your luck with partnership

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Do law firms take partnership for granted? They really shouldn’t as the model has served them so well. Just consider the case. Partnership aligns management and ownership. This has helped large law firms to avoid the patchy governance and rewards-for-mediocrity seen at public companies over the last 20 years and drives partners to a pure form of performance pay. It is inherently long-term and as such has a strong record in promoting independence and ethical standards. And given that law isn’t a capital-intensive trade – at least once you cross the Rubicon of international expansion – partnership is workable (if not ideal) from a financing point of view.

But the killer app of partnership is the meritocratic oddity of institutions aiming to turn a group of workers into owners. It promotes a razor focus on career development and does a lot of the heavy lifting in governance terms at law firms. That obsessive focus on standards and talent coming through the door truly marks out the legal profession from other, less successful industries.

Why the love-letter to partnership? Well, looking at the grim statistics on partner promotions, as we do this month, you can’t escape the feeling that leading law firms are pushing their luck. The top ten largest UK firms, including DLA Piper and Hogan Lovells, together have over 5,500 partners. This group collectively promoted 197 new partners in 2013 – equivalent to 3.5% of their current ranks. These levels are well below the replacement rate needed to sustain partnerships at current sizes and the picture is considerably worse if you look at UK partner prospects. Given that less than half of those making partner trained with their firm or joined at intake level, the traditional track to equity is under unprecedented strain. And as to women making partner – well, even a hard-nosed pragmatist would have to say the current numbers at major City firms – with the honourable exception of Norton Rose – are woeful given the public hand-wringing of recent years.

It still works for now but at a certain point, an increasingly remote partnership will surely cease to function as an effective long-term engagement tool. That would likely leave you with strong junior ranks given the appeal of law. But if joining a law firm really becomes mainly about a start of a career largely focused outside of private practice, the crucial mid-tier associate ranks will be under siege. This is not theoretical – a growing body of research confirms the fading allure of partnership, especially among female lawyers.

Law firm leaders acknowledge this existential threat to partnership but, when it comes down to the annual promotion round, the model is chipped away every year with smaller promotions and more barriers to equity.

We’ve moved into a curious half-life of partnership where the pretence is maintained that the old deal hasn’t changed. But it has changed and we could even soon reach a tipping point where the dominant path for a legal career is one without partnership. That would have huge implications for the UK legal profession. The suspicion is managing partners will come to regret pushing to breaking point the institution that once elevated them.

 

alex.novarese@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Comment: Say what you like, City practices taking on larger real estate is a good sign

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If upgrading your square footage is any litmus test of how City firms feel about the future then a raft of them including DLA Piper, Bird & Bird and Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) can be said to be in confident mood.

As reported by Property Week on Tuesday (11 June), top Global 100 firm DLA is the most recent UK firm looking to expand its City office space, hiring Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) to carry out a search for up to 200,000 sq ft of space, an increase on the 110,000 sq ft office it currently occupies in Noble Street.

Last week, top 40 UK firm FFW reportedly placed a bid to take on several floors of a Thames-side site, and Bird and Bird, which recently announced a turnover increase of 6%, last month took on 142,500 sq ft of office space at Great Portland Estates’ New Fetter Lane office building. Hill Dickinson, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Gateley all increased their City space late last year.

On the one hand, no real trend can be read into the upgrades as many have either been driven by firms’ need to consolidate multiple sites or move out of old, no longer fit for purpose buildings. DLA, which currently operates out of two bases in London, is looking to bring both offices under one roof prior to the expiry of its current leases. Bird & Bird, meanwhile, is consolidating three into one.

Furthermore, amidst only fledgling signs of economic recovery in Europe, nor should the moves be taken as a sign of City law firms being over confident. Many firms are deeply aware of client perception and JLL director Richard Proctor said: ‘I don’t see a trend of people taking extravagant office space. They are saying that they have got to strike the balance between appearing professional without clients asking why their office looks so expensive.’

All this aside, the expansions are nonetheless a positive sign and Perry said: ‘We have seen a lot of growth in the last few years, the firm has a lot of ambitious plans, we are very confident for the future.’

One trend that has arisen out of the moves is more visible creativity in the way City practices are using their space.

Proctor said: ‘All law firms are looking at ways they can use their space more effectively, include subletting space they don’t use to reduce their overheads.’

Perry added: ‘I suspect that there’s been a movement in the nature of the space that firms wish to use for direct client use so I think certainly we are looking to have much more imaginative options for our client facing area.’

While this may be so, only a handful of firms including Addleshaw Goddard, Reynolds Porter Chamberlain and Eversheds are taking the plunge by going open plan. At least one Magic Circle firm has considered and dismissed the idea of dispensing with their closed office space, and US firms’ use of larger offices to reward those higher up the hierarchy means they will be even further behind.

‘It will take a long time for the large firms, particularly US firms, to move to an open plan model,’ Proctor says.

francesca.fanshawe@legalease.co.uk